FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 14, 2007

Isakson: Energy Bill Should Include All Alternatives
Warns That Limiting Choices Will Cost Georgia

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today urged his Senate colleagues to pass comprehensive energy legislation that encourages all forms of energy alternatives instead of a limited number of renewable energy sources. Isakson also called for the expansion of nuclear energy, which he believes is a clean, efficient and economical alternative fuel.

“We have a diverse country with many assets that regionally are very different,” Isakson said on the Senate floor. “If we're going to have standards that call on us to find renewable energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we have got to promote all those sources and not narrow those sources.”

The Senate is currently debating an amendment to the energy legislation on the Senate floor that would require utilities to produce 15 percent of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind power, by 2020. Isakson argued the amendment would have a devastating effect on Georgia’s energy producers and consumers, because the state does not have the natural resources to meet the standards proposed in the amendment and would have to purchase the percentage of electricity from renewable sources. As a result, Georgia would face an increase of $12.4 billion in costs to consumers by 2030.

 “Nuclear energy cannot do it all. Wind cannot do it all. Solar cannot do it all. Hydro cannot do it all. And biomass cannot do it all,” Isakson said. “If we're going to seek alternatives, let's seek them all. Let's seek them safely.”

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